


Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

by Pingoodle (ThatAloneOne)



Series: Steal Your Heart [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2020-09-24 11:03:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20357416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatAloneOne/pseuds/Pingoodle
Summary: A snippet set between chapters 9 and 10 of Steal Your Heart, from Meadhbh's POV.





	Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

_One... Two... Three... Four..._

The floor came closer, drew away. The stucco concrete wasn't the most interesting thing in the world to look at, but I focused on it, trying to pick apart the details, like my mother had taught me.

_Nine... Ten..._

There were little bits of brown rock embedded in the concrete of the floor. Strange, because the walls were grey and bland through and through. 

_Sixteen... Seventeen..._

My arms were starting to shake, and my stomach starting to burn.

Find something else. I needed to find something else.

Naythan.

_Twenty four... Twenty five..._

He said okay a lot. Nervous, always tugging on his ear and looking away. Maybe I'd nickname him. Mab always touted the value of nicknames. Said they endeared boys to you faster than poetry was supposed to endear you to them.

I hadn't exactly had the chance to fact-check with Dave.

_Thirty._

I let my arms collapse out from under me, pressing my face into the cold grit. I felt like a furnace, pumping heat into my cell. My jacket felt practically baked on, but I couldn't risk taking it off.

They could take it back. It'd been hard enough getting it in the first place.

I swung my legs around, popped to a crouch. I knew I still had that superhuman grace, though it was fading faster than I'd like to admit. The tally marks on the wall were beginning to stack up.

Time for crunches. I lay back down, trying to ignore the eyes I could feel on me through the one way wall.

_One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six._

_Your body is a tool_, my mother'd always told me. _Like all tools, it requires maintenance. And it's the one tool you can never be without. Who pledges their heart to an ugly girl?_

Nobody. That's who. So I ignored the tearing of my muscles and the sweat and the pain.

_Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen._

I was lucky, here. Judging by the red face and averted gaze at just a glimpse of cleavage, Naythan wasn't looking like someone I'd need to go at with the proverbial pry bar.

He was sweet, I had to say that. Got me my jacket in five minutes flat. Stopped calling me 'Subject A' when asked, under the pain of death but _still_. Sweet.

He'd thought of me as sweet, too. Until he learned what sort of heart was in my chest.

_Twenty one. Twenty two._

My heart, _Dave's_ heart, thudded in my ears. I knew I should give myself some time to cool down, maybe not feel so crusted in sweat because I hadn't showered in _weeks_.

My hair wasn't cornsilk anymore. More like three year old corn stalks. I didn't know how they stood the smell of me when they took me out for studying.

_Twenty seven. Twenty eight. Twenty nine. Thirty._

Oh yes, I knew all about the gassing and studying. They thought they were being all stealthy, gassing me when I was sleeping and so such.

But the sleeping gas dose? Usually wore off about halfway though the scans so I could hear the minions muttering about core temperatures and heart rates and blood pressures and other jargon.

They really didn't know a thing about us. As clearly evidenced by Naythan trying to teach me the alphabet. The _alphabet._

_Thirty five. Thirty six. Thirty seven._

I knew he was there. Watching me and probably bright red and tugging his ear and feeling like a stalker behind the glass.

I didn't just decide to stare blankly at the wall every few days. I _listened_, in that way that the overly okay boy seemed to think was overly impressive. I could hear murmurs through the wall, wisps of movement. I could see little things through the mirrored wall. Shadows.

I knew more of what was going on than they thought I did. And was a little cannier than Naythan thought I was. I couldn't cry on command, certainly, but when I was feeling overly emotional I'd try to feed the flames, break a little.

It made me feel awful but...

_Forty one. Forty two._

Okay Boy. I could call him Okay Boy.

_Forty four._

A trail of sweat took a slide down the back of my neck, and _blargh_, it felt terrible. I wanted a shower more than anything.

But I'd already bargained what I could. My name, and my (phoney) cooperation.

_Forty nine. Fifty._

I lay back on the icy floor, tried to catch my breath. It was taking a lot out of me today. Is this what Maura felt like? Fighting her way through day after day on only her own heart until it. Just. Stopped.

Some days, I felt like I deserved that.

Other days, I met the Dave Chastons of the world.

I rolled again, up to my knees, leather sticking like a second skin. One leg out, and... splits. I hoped Naythan was impressed. It was a lot of work to get this flexible, dammit.

_Three, two, one... switch._

The other leg. I stared at the mural on the far wall, the birds and vines and abstract nonsense I'd managed to create with a single crayon. The crayon was about gone now, a tiny speck of coloured wax wrapped in a scrap of paper.

Another gift from Okay Boy. Another piece of him falling in love.

_Aaaaand, up. Back bridge._

Stretching was important too, Mother always said. I hated it worse than the endless reps of crunches. At least with the reps, I could feel my muscles ache and strengthen. Stretching? All my muscles did was complain. Useless.

Not as useless as the scientists, though. They held a truly special prize for stupidity. Honestly, did they think I was able to seduce grown men with my, and I quote, "wiles"? Mother could, certainly, but she was always better than us at everything.

And her friend, Terabithia, I think? I'd met her once, a couple years ago. Terabithia could sway practically anyone to lust and obedience in under ten minutes. Mother said she had been captured, but that made absolutely _no_ sense. Unless Mother had something to do with it, of course.

My ribcage ached with each breath, subtle remnants of bruises making themselves known. I'd _said_ I was coming, you stupid soldiers. No need to get out the big sticks.

_Focus on the floor. Thirty more seconds._

Brown speck. Grey. Larger brown speck. Ache. Grey.

_And you're done._

I stood, every particle of my body aching and shaking. How much longer did I have to wait? An hour? A day? A week? I wouldn't last forever in a cell. Naythan _had_ to know that.

If he took too long, I'd have to rescue myself. And I could. I was not a damsel in distress. I was Meadhbh Tuller, Stealer, badass, heartbreaker. I would get the hell out of here if I wanted too.

_Just wait,_ Mab's voice whispered. Her fingers combed through my hair, and I closed my eyes. _Absence makes the heart grow fonder. You'll see._

I snorted. _Yeah, right._


End file.
